Four things Peter had learned about Yondu
by RedHatMeg
Summary: Four times Peter learned something about Yondu Udonta. One was funny, one was heartwarming, one was crazy and one was sad.


**It's my first attempt in the "X things... and one thing...", and unfortunately I couldn't come up with what Yondu could learn about Peter, so I decided to stay with the things Peter had learned about our favorite Ravager.**

**At first it was supposed to be only three things, but the fourth kind of popped into my mind. Also the things no. 2 and 4 are my little headcanons (until GotG2 don't prove me otherwise, I'm staying firmly on them).**

**Four things Peter had learned about Yondu**

**One**

There was no denial – Yondu Udonta was a tough guy. Peter suspected that if the Centaurian was in military, he would be yelling at new recruits, calling them pansies or girls, while doing a round on the obstacle course or stopping the bayonet with his teeth. He was brooding, rough, scary-looking closed man, who was never showing any sign of weakness. A manly man in every aspect.

No wonder Ravagers were following him. They were either scared or impressed by him (possibly both). Peter himself felt kind of small and weak, while comparing himself to Yondu, but this was to be expected. He was a nine-year-old kid and Yondu was a big-ass guy, who probably spent most of his life fighting and building up his muscle. Also there was this damn arrow. You can't fight with a guy, who would destroy you with that thing. So Peter knew that if he wanted to be as manly as Yondu, he should better start his training as soon as possible.

One day Peter decided to work harder. His Ravager training was pretty tough and already included building up of few fighting skills, however, he knew that if he wanted to be taken seriously, he had to work on his muscles. So he was doing push-ups, crouching and bending in his spare time (he was also doing some exercises early in the morning). Some Ravagers were looking at him with interest or mild confusion, and when he was explaining to them that he wanted to get manlier as soon as possible, they were either laughing at him, or going away. He didn't know why they acted that way.

It happened a week after his decision that Peter woke up even earlier than he generally did for exercise. He did his usual routine and then, realizing that the rest of the crew was sleeping soundly and won't wake up until three hours – he decided to take a walk around the ship. He spotted few of the Ravagers (like Kraglin cleaning his favorite knife), but they didn't mind him all that much. The ship in the morning was pleasantly quiet and had a nice atmosphere of soothing peacefulness. Peter went up and was passing captain's quarters…

And that's when this day got weird.

He wasn't expecting Yondu to be there, well maybe a little, but for sure he wasn't expecting to hear _that_.

"Come here, my pretty. We need to brush your hair."

Peter stopped abruptly. It was definitely Yondu's voice, but it sounded very sweetly, like he was some kind of old lady talking to an infant.

The boy put his ear to the door and listened carefully. He had to confirm what he just heard.

"Don't worry, Princess Della of Sakaar! I will take care of your hair too! But Queen Lorian is always a priority!"

Yeah, it was Yondu, alright. But he sounded like someone had mixed his brain with that of a little girl and like he was going to prepare a tea party for his plushies any time now. Curious as to what was happening there, Peter carefully opened the door and picked inside.

Yondu was standing in front of a big wardrobe with shelves and on those shelves there were dolls and various figures. Plastic, metal, porcelain, plush… girls, soldiers, some kind of weird creatures… with additional hair or with accessories. Peter even spotted one My Little Pony there, although, he didn't know how Yondu could get into possession of it, since he was on Earth only few minutes, when he was abducting Peter.

"And we should do something about Prince Valber's stained uniform. How it happened, anyway? Never mind. There's nothing that good washing couldn't take care of."

The Centaurian – completely unaware of Peter's presence – took some kind of hairbrush and started to carefully brush brown hair of Barbie-like doll in evening dress. The sight was so strange, it contrasted so much with Yondu's general manly and tough attitude that Peter couldn't take his eyes of the captain. Was it really happening, or was he still asleep and dreaming some weird-ass dream? He was too speechless to laugh, and too shocked to go away, so he was standing there and observing everything.

"Don't worry, Your Highness! I will tame those curls right away!"

Suddenly Yondu stopped brushing doll's hair and Peter was worried that he had been noticed. His worries has been confirmed, when Yondu slowly turned his way, then put the doll on its place and with cold expression walked towards the intruder.

"I didn't see anything!" The boy defended himself, looking everywhere else than his captain.

Yondu stopped in front of him and crossed his arms.

"_What_ are you doing here, Quill?" He asked with the most menacing expression he could muster.

"I-I-I-I…" Peter started to stutter, not knowing what to say.

Yondu neared his face to Peter's and hissed with his most deep and scary voice:

"I hope you have something really important to say, because you've just disturbed my privacy and you can only do it, if there is an emergency."

Peter almost couldn't believe his own eyes. From a guy talking like a little girl to his dolls Yondu returned immediately to his normal scary as hell self. It was kind of refreshing but still… What was happening? Did Peter entered some kind of Twilight Zone?

"I'm waiting, Quill." Yondu said impatiently. "What are you doing here?"

There was no need to lie. Yondu was a living bullshit detector.

"I woke up early," Peter started. "so I took a walk and…"

"And decided to look inside my quarters?"

Peter smiled sheepishly.

"You know, kid," Yondu began. "I didn't let my men eat you. And it was really hard. They never tasted Terran before. You should be grateful, or at least decent enough to grant me my privacy."

"I'm sorry!" Peter said with a weak voice. "I won't tell anybody, I promise!"

"Even if you do, it doesn't matter. Now, get out of my sight!"

And Peter was happy to obliged.

While waiting for others to wake up, he was thinking about what he saw. When the fear of Yondu's wrath weakened a little, the kid started to giggle. The vision of tough and all manly Yondu playing with his dolls in a very girly manner was still vivid in his mind. He realized that he just witnessed a different side of the Ravagers' captain. A very soft side for that matter. Sudden realization hit Peter. So _that's_ why Yondu was so interested in his Troll Doll…

After some time, when they landed on some planet and Yondu took Peter to a broker, the kid couldn't help but notice that the Centarian expressed an interest in some porcelain figures. Peter smiled to himself. After all, everybody had a hobby and Yondu's hobby didn't make him any less manly.

**Two**

If there was one thing everybody knew for certain, when it came to Yondu, it was the fact that he wasn't Mister Nice Guy. It was highly possible that if you crossed him, you could end up in the hospital. So the Ravagers were careful with talking to him, because one wrong sentence and they could upset their boss and get screwed over. Peter, who was constantly reminded that thanks to Yondu he wasn't eaten up by his men, was regularly threatened to go back into Ravager's menu if he didn't do as he was said. For a first few years the kid was actually taking those threats seriously (because who wouldn't, while being on a spaceship with a bunch of maniacs), but later, when he got to know them better, he realized that he didn't have to be afraid of the Ravagers all that much.

Still it was clear to Peter that Yondu was a ruthless man, especially to those who crossed him. The boy witnessed many times when the Centaurian was hitting or simply threatening people who was stupid enough to call him names or oppose him in anyway. The fear he was causing in the hearts of his men and even strangers… it was a proof to Peter that Yondu was someone, who could easily lose patience.

But this event changed Peter's point of view. Now, after all those years, he couldn't give any details as to circumstances of this event, like: who was this guy or what he actually did. The kid remembered only that the Ravagers made a stop on some planet, went to a bar (as usual), he came to the bathroom and when he returned, he found Yondu threatening some Arcturan with his arrow.

"It was your last mistake. Pray to your gods, because you will soon meet them."

It seemed that he was really going to kill him, but then he realized Peter's presence and suddenly his eyes softened. The Arcturan was still observing the Centaurian with tension and terror on his face, Yondu's eyes, on the other hand, were skipping from his victim to stunned Peter. The Ravagers were observing with tension too, while Peter couldn't take his gaze off the guy held on the arrow point.

And then it happened.

Yondu gave a heavy sigh and his arrow returned behind his belt. The Arcturan didn't look relieved. He was still watching his attacker with tension (and maybe a little bit of disbelief). But just when Peter expected for Yondu to leave the Arcturan alone, he frowned and punched the guy in the face.

When his victim was checking whenever his jaw was broken or not, Yondu said:

"You're lucky that I'm not in the mood for killing. But next time I might not be so generous."

Peter was surprised by this, but didn't mind it all that much. He was happy that a life has been spared…

But later, when the Ravagers led him to the ship, believing that he should go to sleep already, he realized something. He actually had never seen Yondu killing anybody. Yes, he heard _stories_ about Yondu killing somebody, he even saw once a body belonging to somebody who crossed the Centaurian, but the act of killing itself – never. Peter started to wonder why was that. He couldn't believe it that Yondu would actually turn out to be not-so-ruthless as the kid expected. So why?

Peter was thinking about it even, when most of the Ravagers – drunk, and in some cases, even bruised – were returning to their beds and instantly falling asleep. The lights were turned off, the ship quiet (aside from snores coming from various places) and Peter was still thinking about why Yondu didn't kill anybody, when he was around. The kid just couldn't go to sleep.

However, he did closed his eyes to look asleep, when he heard someone's steps on the corridor and when the door to his quarters had been opened.

"He's sleeping?" Asked Yondu's voice.

"It looks like it." Kraglin's voice replied. "Remind me once again: why you're so against killing when Quill is in the room?"

"I don't want a psychopath on my ship." Yondu explained shortly.

Peter was quite surprised by this statement. What his captain meant by it? Well, few people could say that it was too late. Ravagers' ship was already full of guys, who loved violence. Love for violence was valued in their line of work.

Kraglin told his captain the same thing.

"Quill is a very empathic person. Did you notice, Kraglin?" Said the Centaurian after a moment of silence. "I want him to stay that way."

"And you think that he might change, when he see you killing someone?" Kraglin questioned.

"If he'd seen enough deaths at young age, after some time he would think about it as nothing. And later he would actually enjoy seeing people get killed, especially in a very gruesome way." A long pause and then: "That's why I can't kill anybody when Quill can see it."

"You realize that some smartasses can use it to get away from trouble?" Kraglin asked. "You know, they can try to be always close enough to Quill to be seen by him."

"Well, there are worse things than death." Peter could imagine Yondu smirking, while saying that. "And I can always do them in the alley."

Peter could hear them leaving. When he was sure that they were gone, he opened his eyes.

So Yondu didn't want for Peter to become a psychopath. Peter didn't know what "empathic" meant exactly back then, but he assumed that it was caring. Why Yondu wanted him to be caring, when he at the same time wanted him to be a Ravager?

Either way, it was kind of nice – to know that Yondu liked one of Peter's traits so much that he didn't want to change it. It meant that the Ravagers' captain actually didn't hate him as much as he let everybody to think.

**Three**

There were three stages of Yondu's alcohol intoxication. Peter had found out about it, when he turned sixteen and – according to the Ravagers and Yondu himself – became a man. Therefore he was taken to the nearest bar and he was going to drink a beer for the first time. He was kind of happy, but he didn't expect that this will be one of the craziest nights in his life. Because it just so happened that Yondu decided to get drunk of his ass. Other Ravagers, seeing their captain drinking more than usual, started to get worried, but Peter didn't realize it, until it was too late.

So the first stage was The Happy Drunkenness. When Yondu was "happy" drunk, he was suddenly very jovial, he was coming to random people (but mostly to Peter), telling them jokes (mostly really lame ones), singing stupid and/or dirty songs and even dancing around the bar, and generally being awkwardly friendly to everyone. At first it was kind of funny to see grumpy Centaurian acting like he got high. It was also a bit refreshing.

But it didn't take long, because soon Yondu entered the stage of The Angry Drunkenness. Cautiously long before the Ravagers' captain came to this state, Kraglin had hid his arrow and everything that could be used as weapon. When Yondu was "angry" drunk, all of sudden everything was pissing him off and he thought that everybody was against him. It happened once or twice that he turned to Peter and started to yell his pretenses at him.

During one of those instances…

"You ungrateful brat! You probably think that all of this is funny, heh? I can sometimes hear you laughing at me! _Me_! Your own captain! The man who saved you from being eaten!"

…Yondu fell back on his chair and started to cry. And that was when The Bitter Drunkenness kicked in. When he was "bitter" drunk, he was just sitting and talking to everybody, who was kind enough to listen, about things that really bothered him. It was the stage of truthfulness, moment when Yondu stopped to be his usual strong self and revealed before Peter his other face.

**Four**

"You know, Quill," He said suddenly. "the place where I come from has a long and complicated ritual of manhood. Mine actually ended badly."

"Why? What happened?"

"Not very much. Only the Brotherhood of Badoon attacked and slaughtered my village."

This statement, especially the casual way Yondu had said it, shocked Peter. Yondu continued, his face sad, his voice quiet:

"When I was leaving, everything was fine and when I returned, it all was burned to the ground." He chuckled silently. "Guess, I was lucky back then. The massacre missed me. Look at me: I'm alive! The lone survivor of Zatoan tribe!"

"Yondu, I'm so sorry…" Peter tried to be supportive and he even rested his hand on the Centaurian's arm, but it has been refused with one move of Yondu's shoulder.

"I don't need your pity, kid." The Ravagers' captain looked at the space before him. "I don't need anybody's pity. I didn't need it, when I was mourning my tribe, and certainly I don't need it right now." He got silent for a moment and wiped his eyes, before continuing: "I sometimes hear their screams in the night." He chuckled once again. "It's funny because I wasn't hearing them, when it all happened." He saddened abruptly. "They're accusing me of not coming to save them. For not dying with them. And sometimes I want to tell them that I wish I would die back then…"

Peter was never feeling so sorry for Yondu than in that very moment of truthfulness caused by the alcohol intoxication. And suddenly he realized why the Centaurian was so careful with drinking – he didn't want to be so vulnerable and say things like that in front of his own men and complete strangers.

And the whole thing with Zatoan tribe being massacred… Who would imagine that Yondu went through this kind of tragedy? Peter actually wanted to hug his boss, but he knew that one hug couldn't compensate Yondu all the guilt and emptiness he must have felt all those years (besides, the gesture would probably piss him off anyway).

Nevertheless, Peter and Kraglin helped him go back to the ship and get to his bed.

For twenty six years Peter had seen many faces of Yondu. He saw him being manly and not-so-manly. He saw him being angry and considerate. He saw him being sober and drunk. He saw him being happy and sad. He had learned so much about the man that he suspected that nothing will ever surprise him. But it was kind of fascinating to see one guy have so much hidden depths.


End file.
